Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Today
the message is going to come from the book of Romans chapter
9. That's where I'm going to begin.
And in Romans chapter 9 and verse 27, if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, the title of the message is, A Remnant Shall
Be Saved. A Remnant Shall Be Saved. And
this passage of scripture Romans chapter 9 presents some very
difficult truths concerning the absolute sovereignty of God and
the responsibility of man. Now, many people have problems
with that because they can't make both of those truths come
together in a logical answer in their minds. But the Bible
presents them both as parallel truths that although it cannot
necessarily be reconciled in our own minds, both stand true. God is absolutely sovereign in
every way. He's sovereign in creation. He's
sovereign in salvation. He's sovereign in providence.
and man is totally responsible and held accountable. There's
a verse back in the book of Deuteronomy that I always refer to that I
believe answers the question the only way that it can be answered
which is in God's Word. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 29
verse 29 which says the secret things belong to God. There are
things that God has not revealed to us, you see. He says the secret
things, hidden things, belong to God. That's God's business. But He says the revealed things
belong to us. Of course, He was talking to
Israel under the Old Covenant there, but it's a truth that
stands true for all of us. There are things God has not
revealed and there are things He has revealed. What am I held
accountable for? What am I responsible to do? Those things which God has revealed.
So when I come to these issues, like the absolute sovereignty
of God, should I deny the responsibility of man? The Apostle Paul was
inspired by the Holy Spirit to deal with that issue in the book
of Romans chapter 9. And really what he's getting
to here is not to make this, give us what we call a human
rationale or logical conclusion that we can really understand
and get our minds around. What he was doing was showing
how salvation, the salvation of a sinner, is totally 100%
by the sovereign will and goodness and grace of God. He starts off here, well, we
won't go back to the very beginning, but he talks about Jacob and
Esau. He says, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated, Romans 9, 13. And people have problems
with that because they have a hard time wondering why God could
hate anybody. Well, let me tell you something
now. If you understand the Bible, You understand that by nature,
that's all we do deserve is the hatred of God. And God's hatred
is not like our hatred. It's not emotional. It's not
selfish. It's not sinful. God's hatred
is his justice against sin. That's all it is. And the fact
that God hated Esau shouldn't surprise anyone. Esau's a sinner, but now Jacob's
a sinner too. He says, Jacob have I loved.
Well, that's what ought to surprise any of us. How could God love
Jacob? How could God love any sinner?
And of course, we learn from the Scripture that God's love
is always in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something now.
Understand this. Outside of Jesus Christ, there
is no love of God for any sinner. outside of Jesus Christ. If you
die in your sins, you will not experience the love of God. You
will experience the hatred of God. That's the wrath of God.
Because that's all you deserve. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't
deserve anything more than that. But you see, if I'm in Christ,
that's where the love of God resides. Over in the book of
1 John chapter 4 and verse 10, It says, herein is love, not
that we love God. You see, the source of love is
not us, it's God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins. That's talking
about His people. So, Esau is excluded. Well, so
is anyone who's not in Jesus Christ. So when we hear things
like that, when we read things, this is God's sovereign love.
God loves whom he will. It's his sovereign privilege.
He's the creator, we're the creature. And the only reason you or me
or anyone would get angry at that is because we think too
much of ourselves. We think we deserve God's love. But my friend, we do not deserve
God's love. We do not. Somebody told me one
time, they said, well, I deserve God's love because he created
me. Absolutely not. We fell in Adam. We rebelled
against God. The only thing we've earned is
His hatred. We've earned His judgment, His
wrath, the wages of sin. But God is a God of love. God
is a God of mercy and grace. Now the question is this, where
are you going to find God's love? Where are you going to find God's
mercy? Where are you going to find God's
grace? Not in any shape, form, or fashion by claiming you deserve
it. No, sir, we don't deserve it. Our prayer should be just like
the old publican in Luke 18. You remember the parable of the
Pharisee and the publican? Here's a Pharisee. He thought
he deserved God's love, but he didn't. But here's that old publican,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I have no recourse but to come
to God and beg for mercy because I don't deserve his love. But
people, when they hear these things, they ask this question,
and that's what Paul relates in Romans 9 and verse 14. What
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unjust to hate Esau? Is He unjust to love Jacob? Is He unfair? And the answer
that Paul gives us is God forbid. Listen to what he says. Now listen
to this. This is God's Word. And I know, listen, I know preachers
who won't even touch this because they're afraid of it. And I'll
tell you why they're afraid of it. Number one, they don't understand
it. And I'm not claiming I understand it all. Number two, people don't
like to hear it. Now, if you don't like to hear
what I'm telling you, I want you to understand that when you
hear this, I'm reading God's Word. And that's what the Bible
says. This is what the Word of God
says. So he says, what shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Romans 9, 14. God forbid, he says, verse 15,
for he saith to Moses, and he goes back to the book of Exodus,
and he quotes Exodus 33. I believe this is verse 19. He
said, here's what God said to Moses. He said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. That's God's sovereign prerogative.
And my friend, here's what Paul tells us. In God having mercy
on whom he will and having compassion on whom he will and withholding
his mercy and withholding his compassion on whom he will, God
is not unfair. God is all wise. God is all knowing. God is good. God does that which
is right. And if you say it's unfair or
if I say it's unfair, here's how the scripture answers us.
But here's the conclusion, verse 16. So then it is not of him
that willeth. Salvation is not by your will
or your decision. Somebody says, well, I made a
decision for Christ. Well, if you truly made a decision
for the true Christ of the Bible, If you truly decided for Him,
believed in Him, that's what the scripture would say, not
that you made your decision, but that you believed on Him.
It is not because of your will. It's because of the sovereign
will of God in Christ. You see that? Your decision did
not make the difference between heaven and hell, between saved
and lost. It's God's will. Your decision just revealed what
God's will was all along. Now somebody says, well, let
me go to the conclusion of Romans 9, 16. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And
later on he goes, well, if it's God's will, then are we robots
or does our will matter at all? And he answers that in verse
21, hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump
to make one vessel an honor and another unto dishonor? You see,
God is sovereign, yet man is responsible. And here's where
I want to get to, where the Apostle Paul, down here in Romans 9,
verse 30, he asked this question. He says, what shall we say then? Well, what are we going to say
about all these things? These hard, high concepts, God's absolute
sovereignty, man's total responsibility. It's God's will. The Bible says
that God saves whom he will in his way. And that's the way it
is. And what am I gonna say to that?
How am I gonna respond to that? Well, some people say, well,
if God is willing to save me, then that's it. There's nothing
I can do about it. I'll just go about my, let me tell you
something. That's the equivalent of trying
to play God. If you answer that way, you're
trying to put yourself up as if you were as wise and as knowledgeable
as God. How are we to respond to these
things? Well, remember, as I quoted, the secret things belong to God.
God lives in His high, holy realm. And I don't live there. I'm human.
You're human. We live on this earth. We're
sinful human beings. and here's what he says now look
at Romans chapter 9 verse 27 and after he brings out all these
truths here's what he says he goes back to the book of Isaiah
the prophet Isaiah and he's talking about Israel the nation Israel
the nation Israel they were called in the old covenant God's chosen
people and they were chosen to be God's people as a nation under
the old covenant for a definite, particular, temporary period
of time. And yet the vast majority of
that nation rejected God's way of salvation by grace through
Jesus Christ. And so here he goes back and
he's showing now, why did all this happen and what's the results
of it? And he says, Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the
sea. This is Romans 9 27. Though the
number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a
remnant shall be saved. Now you know what a remnant is?
A remnant is a small piece. If you go to the carpet store
and say, I want a remnant, that means you don't want a whole
row of carpets. You want just a piece of that row. And that's
what this means. A remnant shall be saved. What is this remnant? Well, here's
the vast nation of Israel. And God has already revealed. in the Old Testament and in the
New Testament, that He has a chosen people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation that He chose in Christ before the foundation
of the world and gave to Him. The Bible says that their names
were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation
of the world, the Lamb slain. And yet the vast majority of
Israel rejected Christ and the way of salvation based on His
righteousness alone. Well, Isaiah says it this way. He said, well, the issue is,
well, has God cast off His people? Does God not fulfill His promise? Does God fail to save those whom
He chose and redeemed by the blood of Christ? No, a remnant
shall be saved, he says. And in verse 28 of Romans 9,
he says, for he will finish the work. The word work there is
account. He's going to finish the account.
There's an accounting. And God chose a people in Christ
and imputed, accounted their sins unto him. and he sinned
Christ to obey the law for them as their substitute in surety,
and go to the cross of Calvary, having their sins imputed, charged,
accounted to him, the dead of their sins, and he drank damnation
dry for them, and that's what it means here, for he will finish
the work, he will cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. All of the salvation. Think about this. Jesus Christ
came into the world to save his people from their sin. His lifespan
on this earth was about 33 and a half years, a very short time. His actual redemptive work on
the cross didn't last very long at all. One offering. And the scripture says by that
one offering, he hath perfected, completed, finished them that
are sanctified. He had perfected by His blood. He washed away all their sins
by His blood. He established righteousness.
He says He's gonna cut it short. He said, cut it short in righteousness
because a short work will He make upon the earth. Christ in
His obedience unto death fulfilled all the requirement of righteousness
for the people of God. And here it goes on, he says
in verse 29, and Isaiah said before, and as Isaiah said before,
and here he's quoting from Isaiah chapter one, except the Lord
of Sabaoth, that means the Lord of an invincible army, cannot
be defeated. Except the Lord of Sabaoth had
left us a seed, and that seed is the seed of God's people,
the seed of grace, we had been as Sodom and had been made like
unto Gomorrah. Now Sodom and Gomorrah, what
happened? The wrath of God fell upon Sodom
and Gomorrah and the whole city was wiped out. Nobody came, there
was a lot, a lot came out. But of the Sodomites and those
who were in Gomorrah, none of them were spared. And what Isaiah
is saying is this, he said, a remnant shall be saved. God hasn't elect
people out of the Jewish nation. He has elect people out of the
Gentile nations. And a remnant shall be saved.
And how are they going to be saved? God's going to finish
the account. He's going to put away their
sins by the sacrifice of his son. He's gonna, and he's gonna
cut it short in righteousness. The putting away of those sins
is gonna be by the righteousness of his son, the righteousness
of Christ, freely imputed and received by God-given faith.
And if that didn't happen, then there would be no remnant of
Israel. There'd be no part of that nation that would be saved.
But he says, a remnant shall be saved. Now, how are they gonna
be saved? Not by their own wills, not by their own works. but by
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which righteousness
alone demands and secures their salvation. This remnant is the
election of grace over in the book of Romans chapter 11. Listen
to what the Apostle Paul says about the vast majority of Jews
rejecting the Messiah and dying in unbelief. but the fact that
God has a people out of that nation, a remnant. And he says
in Romans 11, look at verse 1. He says, I say then, hath God
cast away his people? In other words, because the nation
of Israel in a majority rejected Christ, does that mean God's
cast away his chosen people? And he says, God forbid. Paul
says, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the
tribe of Benjamin. Paul was a believer. Paul was
a sinner saved by grace. Paul was justified before God
by his grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. But he says, now
I'm a physical Israelite, a natural born child of Abraham of the
tribe of Benjamin. Verse two of Romans 11. God hath
not cast away his people which he foreknew. Now, God foreknowing
here is more than just God's omniscience. In the scripture,
if you're going to understand it by the rule of language, you
have to distinguish between God's omniscience and God's foreknowledge. God's omniscience is the fact
that He knows all things. Nothing surprises God. God's
foreknowledge refers to the fact that God has ordained all things,
foreordination. And what he's talking, and God's
foreknowledge doesn't have to do with events, it has to do
with people. He says, God hath not cast away his people which
he foreknew. Scripture tells us that, that
all whom God foreknew. And it says, what or know you
not what the scripture saith of Elias? This is Elijah. How
he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord,
they've killed thy prophets, they dig down thine authors,
and I'm left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith
the answer of God unto him? Here's what God says. I have
reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to
the image of Baal. And here's what I'm saying. Here's
the remnant now. A remnant shall be saved. Verse
5 of Romans 11. Even so then at this present
time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. You see that? It's a remnant
whom God chose not by looking down through a telescope of time
and foreseeing what they would do or not do. But it's a remnant
according to the election of grace. Just like back in Romans
9, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And he says in verse
6 of Romans 11, And if by grace, then is it no more of works,
otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. In other words,
you can't have it both ways. It's all of grace or it's all
of works. And in verse seven, listen to
this in Romans 11. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election, those whom God
chose for new in Christ hath obtained it and the rest were
blinded. That's God's judgment against
them for rejection. How can God hold them accountable?
Well, that's what the Bible tells us. God holds them accountable
because he's God and we're the creature. So go back to Romans
9 now. A remnant shall be saved. Here's
what I know. I cannot climb into God's mind
and think like God because I'm not God. You can't do it either. But I know what God reveals here.
I know what he says in his word. He says a remnant's going to
be saved. Man, by nature, is dead and trespasses in. We fell
in Adam. We, by nature and by practice,
even at our best, deserve nothing but God's hatred, God's wrath,
and God's judgment against our sins. That's what the Bible teaches.
And what's more, being dead in trespasses and sin, being spiritually
dead, we want salvation, but not God's way. We want it our
own way. We want salvation in a way that
gives us some room to glory. I made the decision. I rose above
the rest of humanity. I was less rebellious. I was less obstinate. I made
my decision. No, my friend, if we made a decision
for Christ, the true Christ, if we believe in Him, that's
the work of God. The source of that is His will.
not our will. You can talk about free will
until you're blue in the face, but you're not going to find
it in this Bible. We're free agents. We can choose what we
want, but by nature, being spiritually dead, we only want those things
that exalt ourselves, that give us room to glory. And that's
what the problem is. But this is what I know. A remnant
shall be saved. And I know this. I want to be
part of that remnant. How about you? I want salvation. Well, what is the salvation that
God reveals? And he goes on in verse 30 of
Romans 9. And I'm going to read these verses,
but I'm going to come back and I'm going to preach on them next
time. But he says in verse 30, What
shall we say then? He says that the Gentiles, which
followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. Now he's not talking
about all Gentiles without exception there. He's talking about believing
Gentiles. Gentiles who are part of the
remnant. Gentiles who are part of that number that God foreknew. The elect, the church. Gentiles
for whom Christ died and shed his blood and was buried and
raised again the third day. Gentiles for whom Christ brought
forth righteousness. And he says they followed not
after righteousness. Now what he's saying there is
they didn't, in the context, we'll see this in the next verse,
they didn't have the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial law. They
didn't have the law of Moses. But they looked to Christ. They
looked to Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, for all salvation,
for all forgiveness, for all righteousness, eternal life and
glory. But he says in verse 31, But
Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness. The believing Gentiles, they
found righteousness. Where? In the Lord Jesus Christ,
and Him crucified and raised from the dead. The unbelieving
Israelites, they tried to keep the law, but they didn't make
righteousness. Why? Verse 32, wherefore? Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law, and they stumbled at the stumbling stone. Now that's
a prophecy of Christ I'll come back and talk about later. But
here's the point, here's what I know, a remnant's going to
be saved. And that remnant is going to be saved not by their
will or their works, but by God's will and God's work through the
Lord Jesus Christ. That remnant is going to be saved
by grace. I want salvation. How about you?
Well, there's only one way that a sinner can be saved, and that's
by the righteousness of another. The righteousness of one whom
God has appointed to be the only way of salvation. The righteousness
of one who is able to work out righteousness. You see, I'm not
able, and you're not able. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that doeth good, no not one. A righteousness
which one is willing to do, and that's Christ and Him alone.
I hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's
Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 2-2-9-4-3-2-6-9-6-9 or email us through our website
at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.